Majie- part 1
by willow-the-wisp
Summary: A girl named Rana at Hogwarts with some unusual talents...


  
  
{Dammit,} Rana Clise thinks frustratedly. The anti-melt spell on her pewter cauldron had worn off, leaving a burnt smell and half a cauldron. {Really, what do they think they're doing, giving us pewter cauldrons?}   
She sighed. She had enough money for an iron one, no problem there.  
Taking a teaspoon, she measured out a teaspoon of beetle's eyes for plant food.   
And the books. The stupid magic books never held out long enough. Rana dimly remembered several years ago when the Care of Magical Creatures teacher had made them get The Monster Book of Monsters. Ugh, what an awful mess that had turned out to be. They bred, too. Her roommate, Charlotte, got one as well, and within a week there were too many to count.  
Oh, well.  
"Charlotte? Can I borrow your cauldron? Mine melted through," She called.  
Charlotte was on her bed, deeply embedded in an animated game. She looked up.  
"Huh? Oh. Oh, sure. But it melted through? They're not supposed to do that."  
"Yeah, I know. And you're not supposed to have to renew the spell. Here, lemme check yours, just in case." Rana muttered a few words, and the tip of her finger lit into flame. It was one of her best spells.  
She carefully held her finger to the rim of Char's cauldron. {Careful, now...}  
Whew! Nothing wrong with that one. Rana blew her finger out, and put the cauldron over the fire.  
Dumping the beetle eyes in, she bustled about looking for the rare dried mandrake leaves that the herbology teacher had given her. Finding it in her cupboard, Rana carefully snipped the tip off of one of the leaves after putting on her dragonhide gloves and a pair of goggles. Holding it in a pair of magically enhanced tweezers, she was about to drop it into the cauldron.  
"Here, put these on and invoke that barrier I was saving. Good, now get behind it."   
With extreme caution, Rana dropped the leaf tip in the cauldron, and then flung herself behind the almost-invisible barrier. There was a spark, and a crackle, and a sudden heaviness in the air.  
All of a sudden, there was a burst of purple flame. A puff of smoke. And one last fizzle.  
"Oh," Char said, staring at the ceiling.  
"Shit, I'm in trouble if we don't clean up. Here, I'll get the ceiling, and you get the floor."  
There was an enormous black spot on the ceiling. Rana didn't think even Muggle machine guns could do damage to the stuff here at Hogwarts.  
The ceiling was still sizzling, but at least the firework-like flame hadn't burned a hole in it.  
Rana sighed, and invoked a Levitating spell, grabbing for her wand.  
"Pseraiim," she said, and waved her wand about. She never would understand why the cleaning spell was such a peculiar word. Usually, spells would have something to do with what it did.  
"Sarah-yim? Show me how do do that one!" Char said. She was of Muggle heritage, and hadn't needed to use spells to clean up after making a mess.  
"Pseraiim. The "aiim", like the "aii" in Hawaii. And wave your wand around, and it gets junk off stuff."  
They cleaned in quiet for a moment.  
"Why does Corriander like you so much?" Char asked after a while.  
Professor Corriander, the herbology teacher  
"I dunno. I guess herbology is my best subject anyway." Rana answered.  
"Oh yeah? You're top of the class in potions. And Transfiguration. It's a well known fact you're going to end up an Animagus as soon as you figure out how."  
Rana grinned as she turned back to the slightly blackened cauldron. Blessed be for ant-melting spells.  
"And I'm sure I'll have that figured out by next year, you'll see. Loki, here kitty kitty, i need a whisker, please. You too, Isis, I need a feather from you."  
Rana was allowed to keep both a cat AND an owl. Char didn't understand why she only got to have an owl.  
There was a whining yowl as Rana clipped one of Loki's whiskers, and then a contemptuous screech as she clipped some of Isis's down.  
Rana dropped those into the cauldron, stepping back as a puff of smoke and a pungent, earthy smell filled the room.  
Rana ransacked her cupboard. "Char, have you seen my jar of spider-silk ashes?"  
Char looked under the cupboard. "Here it is. Where did you get this, anyways? You use it even more sparingly than the dried mandrake."  
"I made it a couple years ago. It took me a month to gather enough spiderwebs and find the right spell. But the stuff's really useful, and I couldn't find it in the Apothecaries around. Not in Diagon Alley, not even when I visited my grandparents in Greece."  
"Wow. No wonder you only use a toothpick tip's worth," Char said, watching Rana measure an infinitely small amount of the ashes into the cauldron. The wet-earth smell intensified, and Rana let the concoction simmer.  
"The trick is to let the liquid boil out, without leaving the residue burnt on the inside of the cauldron," Rana said, to no-one in particular.  
Char nodded.  
It didn't take long for the water to boil out. Char peeked in the cauldron, staring at the terracotta colored sludge sitting at the bottom.  
"What do you do next?" she asked.  
"Give a drop to each plant. It's done. Want to come with me to bring it to Corriander?"  
"Sure."  
"Okay, let me change out of my work robes."  
  
  
Fifteen minutes later, the girls were making their way through the intricate Hogwarts hallways.   
"Here's the greenhouse. Professor Corriander? You there? I have the plant food I promised you," Rana called from the doorway of the greenhouse.  
Corriander straightened. She was a small, lithe-looking woman, about Char's height. And Char wasn't very tall at all. With almond-shaped eyes, long, elegantly tapered ears, and blue-white hair, Professor Corriander was the first wood-elf in the history of Hogwarts to become a professor.  
"Wonderful!" Corriander's voice was lilting and soft, like a tree's leaves whispering.  
"I did some research, and you only have to add a drop of distilled newt saliva for the sick ronfenplonfver," Rana said, indicating a wilted-looking blue plant.   
"Perfect. Would you like to help me feed the plants? Here's a dropper. Be careful, just a teensy little bit for each plant. I'll tend to the ronfenplonfver." Corriander extracted a bit of the plantfood, and carefully put it in a small pannikin-like cauldron. "Lets see here... Char, could you run down to Professor Chvvaun's room, and give her this note? She'll give you a bit of newt saliva, and be careful not to spill any."  
Char took the note warily. Chvvaun, the Potions master, was... was... yeesh. There was a rumor that her mother was a vampire, and for once, the rumor was probably right. Char disappeared out the greenhouse door.   
"Do you think I'm really that good at herbology, Professor?" Rana asked as she fed a whinn a drop of plant food. The tall, elegant plant gave an appreciating rustle.  
"Oh, yes. That whinn doesn't trust anyone but you and me, and you know how warlike they can get. Ah, Char! Did you get the newt saliva for me?"  
Char looked a bit shaken, but held the small phial of thick, yellowed liquid firmly.  
"Ah!" Corriander cried, delighted. "Distilled newt saliva is rather rare, and I could only hope Chvvaun had some. You know, Rana, she's rather jealous of you. Your spiderweb ashes, I mean. Chvvaun's been looking for it for years."  
Rana raised her eyebrows as she fed a very small corkscrew whomping willow, which patted her hand affectionately.  
"See? Even the baby whomping willow loves you, and that one barely trusts me," Corriander pointed out.  
Shanna Jun, the favorite of the Ravenclaw house, dashed into the room. Everybody liked Shanna. Except Rana.   
"Yes, Shanna?" Corriander asked smoothly.  
"There's a pair of centaurs asking for Rana, say they need to talk to you-" Shanna said, struggling to catch her breath. Rana raised her eyebrows.  
"Centaurs?"  
"Yes, only they asked for Rana and then they asked for some Little Frog-"  
{Little... Frog..?} Only two creatures had ever called her Little Frog...  
Rana's eyes lit up.  
"Windhoof and Bastion!"  
Shanna frowned. "Who?"  
But Rana was already out the door. She ducked back in.  
"Here, Professor," she said, handing the plant food dropper back to Corriander. Rana swept back out of the greenhouse.  
  
  
to be continued....


End file.
